Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Peter Sciretta at /film is on a crusade to stop the burying of a truly great little piece of indie cinema called ASSASSINATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT, which unfortunately seems to be collateral damage from the now bankrupt Yari Film Group.
Yari put out a bunch of boring shit and some okay flicks, but it's ironic that they go under right when they actually have something that could have been a big success for them. I saw ASSASSINATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT way back in January '08 (click here to read my review) at Sundance where it became one of the more talked about flicks of the fest.
I said it was "like mixing THE MALTESE FALCON and ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN and setting it within the world of a Catholic School filled with crazy people" in the best possible way. You have the young star of ROCKET SCIENCE playing a young journalism student obsessed with Woodward and Bernstein trying to uncover a plot in his high school regarding a set of stolen SATs. You also have a very foxy Mischa Barton as the femme fatale of the school and Bruce Willis in a small role as an on-the-edge Gulf War Vet principal.
While it felt a tad like it was trying to capture a BRICK vibe, the flick does find its own voice and turned into a fantastic little black comedy.
/Film says the film is now destined to be direct to video and is trying to stop that. I proudly support the film and /Film's fight to keep it from DTV hell. The flick deserves better than that and there's a chance we might see a studio like Fox Searchlight pick it up. Personally, I'd recommend the flick to Summit. Use some of your Twilight money and invest in theatrical. I know you guys have good taste, you've got the quirky awesome BROTHERS BLOOM coming up next month.
With even decent advertising I think this could, at the worst, be a modest success and at its best capture a little of that LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE or JUNO magic and be a big hit.
But all money shit aside, it's just a good movie that deserves to be seen with an audience.
